The Weakest Link
On The Weakest Link, eight contestants (six in the syndicated version) competed to win a top amount by playing a quiz/elimination contest. At the end of each round, each player was voted off as The Weakest Link. Gameplay In each round, the team’s goal was to reach the target of the maximum value within the time limit. They did that by correctly answering a series of questions posed by the host. The players on the team played one at a time from left to right. In the first round, the player in the first position or an impaired player such as wheelchair bound (as opposed to the player whose name is first alphabetically in the original British version) went first; then after that, the "Strongest Link" (the player who answered the most questions right) from the previous round went first in the next round. Not only that, the time was reduced in each new round. Also in each round, there was a money chain; on the chain were ascending money amounts leading up to the target amount. So the fastest way to get to the target was to create a chain of a certain number of correct answers. As soon as a player missed a question, the chain was broken, and all the money from the chain was lost. However, at the beginning of each new turn, a player in control could bank the value of the previous question by saying the word "bank" before his/her question was asked; when that happened, that money was put into the bank, but the chain had to be reset. Money Chains The bank's target value was the maximum amount of money that a team could accumulate in any one round, and if a team reached the target and banked it while already having money in the bank (a rare occurrence), the bank would be augmented to the target value instead of having the target value added to the bank. The number of money amounts/consecutive correct answers needed was determined by how many players were originally on the team. As with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Greed, and the Winning Lines Wonderwall round, the amounts were not cumulative. In the primetime version, teams tried to build up a total of up to $1,000,000, while in the syndicated version, they tried to build up a total of up to $75,000 in Season 1, and up to $100,000 in Season 2. Time Limits On NBC, the first round lasted for 2½ minutes (2:30), and decreased by 10 seconds for each new round. In syndication, the first round lasted for 1¾ minutes (1:45), and decreased by 15 seconds for each new round. Voting Off the Weakest Link Any money that had been banked by the team when the time was up was carried over into the next round, giving the team a chance to add more to the bank. However, one player would not advance to the next round, for at the end of each round, all the players on the team would write down their votes on their telestrators as to who they thought was the "Weakest Link". While they were writing, the announcer told the home viewers who was statistically the "Strongest Link/Best Player", and who was the "Weakest Link/Worst Player". Then the votes were revealed, and the player with the most votes was eliminated from the game. In case of a tie, the "Strongest Link" cast the deciding vote. In between the reveal & the elimination, the host would talk to some of the players & ask why he/she voted off a particular player. After the elimination, the eliminated player would do a post-show commentary of what happened. NOTE: Should the "Strongest Link" from the last round be voted off, then the second strongest link started the next round. Double Round In the NBC version (as well as the first season of the syndicated version), when there were two players left, the final regular question round was the double round; for any money banked by the two players was then doubled and added to the bank. So the target for this round on NBC was $250,000, while the target for syndicated season one was $25,000. When the target was doubled to $25,000 in the second syndicated season, the double round was removed, and after the vote off, the remaining two players went straight into the final round. Final Round In the final round, the two remaining players played a showdown for all the money in the bank. To start, the "Strongest Link" from the last round (or, in the second syndicated season, the second-strongest if that player had been voted off) decided if he/she should go first or let his/her opponent go first. Then the players took turns answering their own questions. Each player received up to five questions (three in the syndication version), and the player with the most correct answers won the game. If there was a tie after everybody was asked all of their questions, the game shifted into a sudden death playoff. Questions continued in pairs (they still alternated turns answering questions), and the one player who could manage to answer his/her question correctly when his/her opponent could not answer his/hers, won the game. The winner of the game got to keep all the money in the bank, while the loser and the other eliminated players from the game would leave with nothing. The contestants' progress was shown with their names, and their respective question numbers lit up when their turn came. Every right answer was denoted by a check, every wrong answer was denoted by an X. Records Ironically, the most money won on the prime time version was $188,500 on the Tournament of Losers special (also making it the most money ever won on the show worldwide). The lowest won was $22,500, on the Fear Factor Champions special. The lowest amount won on the daytime version was $1,000, while the highest was $53,000. The highest amount won on a Celebrity Edition of the show was when LeVar Burton won a "Star Trek Stars" edition with a pot of $167,500. Galleries Press Photos Anne Robinson ann_robinson.jpg ht_weakest_link_080612_ssv.jpg YvonneandAnne.jpg 140901439.jpg page7-1006-full.jpg 140901478.jpg 140901477.jpg 799589.jpg George Gray weakestlink2.jpg weakest-link-george-gray.jpg weakest-link-14.jpg Banners WEAKESTmain.jpg weakestlink3.jpg photohdr_WEAKEST.jpg photohdr_WEAKEST (1).jpg Trade ads Version 1 WL1.jpg WL2.jpg WL3.jpg WL4.jpg WL5.jpg WL6.jpg Version 2 WL7.jpg WL8.jpg WL10.jpg Version 3 WL20021.jpg WL20022.jpg WL20023.jpg International Versions The following list of countries that did their versions of The Weakest Link includes: *Arab World *Australia *Azerbaijan *Armenia *Belgium (Dutch language only) *Brazil (as a pilot in 2001 but was later rejected by BBC) *Chile *China *Croatia *Cyprus *Czech Republic *Denmark *Estonia *Finland *France *Georgia *Germany *Greece *Hong Kong *Hungary *India *Ireland *Israel *Italy *Japan *Mexico *Moldova *Netherlands *New Zealand *North Macedonia *Norway *Philippines *Poland *Portugal *Romania *Russia *Serbia *Singapore *Slovenia *South Africa *Spain *Sweden *Taiwan *Thailand *Turkey *United Kingdom (country that originated the program) Trivia Anne Robinson not only hosted the American version, but she also hosted the original British version. George Gray hosted the syndicated show in the beginning of 2002, and ended in 2003. This was the only version out of all international versions where the contestants actually applauded and cheered whenever the target was hit, and the host told them not to in some way. This was also the only show where applause occurred only at the end of each show. In addition, this was one of two shows to have music playing throughout; Greed is the other. The Hong Kong version's host originally was to act like Robinson, but Hong Kong culture usually does not tolerate this. Bowing to public pressure, Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), which broadcast the show from 2001 to 2002, made her act nice for the rest of the run. The host for the Hong Kong version, in particular, was Carol Cheng. In this version, the payouts (in HK$) are doubled from the US version, and the first round is started by the player whose first Chinese surname (last name) is first alphabetically. Rating Both versions, usually reserved for civilian shows. Usually reserved for celebrity shows on the NBC version. Spin-Off Dirty Rotten Cheater - Used the same format except this time, one player had all the answers given to him/her. The pilot, entitled Cheaters, used the Weakest Link set. Inventors Based on the show of the same name in the United Kingdom by Fintan Coyle and Cathy Dunning Additional Pages The Weakest Link/Merchandise The Weakest Link/Catchphrases The Weakest Link/In Popular Culture Links Official website of the NBC interactive version of Weakest Link (Robinson era) courtesy of Spiderdance Official website from the president of Spiderdance who's responsible for the interactive version of The Weakest Link Weakest Link (day & night) Official website from the Anne Robinson era of The Weakest Link courtesy of the Internet Archive Official website from the George Gray era of Weakest Link courtesy of the Internet Archive Chris Lambert's NBC Weakest Link Page Chris Lambert's Syndicated Weakest Link Page David's NBC Weakest Link Page David's Syndicated Weakest Link Page Rules for the Weakest Link Weakest Link Fan Site The Weakest Link @ Tim's TV Showcase George Gray - I'm the Strongest Link YouTube Videos The Only Perfect Chain of the NBC version A Perfect Chain from the 4th Round of a 2nd season episode of the syndicated version with just one second left! A Perfect Chain from the Double Round of a 1st season episode of the syndicated version; includes a George Gray impression of Anne Robinson! A Perfect Chain from the 2nd season of the syndicated version Category:General Knowledge Quiz Category:Big Prize Category:British Formats Category:NBC shows Category:Network shows Category:Primetime shows Category:Syndicated shows Category:NBC Universal Television Category:Short-Running Category:Flops Category:30 Minute Game Shows Category:60 Minute Game Shows Category:2001 premieres Category:2002 endings Category:2002 premieres Category:2003 endings